opinionated everyone
by ayebydan
Summary: Four times Mako, Raleigh and Chuck have to explain their relationship to someone and the one time they don't.


cross posted from ao3

1:

"I just don't get it. You three. I mean, really?" Newt peers at them over breakfast, shovelling eggs into his mouth while looking rapidly between Raleigh, Mako and Chuck. Without looking up from his cereal Raleigh pushes Chuck back into his seat and Mako merely pauses in drinking her orange juice before commenting.

"I didn't realise we had asked for your opinion, Newt. I think we are done with breakfast for this morning gentlemen."

Rising, without ever breaking eye contact with a squirming Newt, she nods once and makes her way out of the hall. Raleigh sighs and looks mournfully at his half finished breakfast before following, his hand catching Chuck at the elbow as he goes and pulling him along too.

It is too early for Chuck to start screaming at someone. It is too early for anything really, but definitely too early for Chuck to start screaming at someone.

2:

"You two drift. I can get that, but Chuck is a straight up asshole."

Raleigh would have punched him but Mako beats him to it and he is pretty sure he hears something crunch. Raleigh isn't even sure he knows the guy's name, only that he worked on some of Gipsy Danger's mechanical systems.

"You have no right-" Mako begins, physically trembling with rage, before she realises what she has done and how many people are around. Raleigh grabs her by the hand and leads them quietly to her room, sitting her down on the bed and kneeling at her feet.

"Hey, _hey_ , people are always going to talk but that doesn't mean that we have to listen ok?"

"I am used to people talking about me. Being raised by the Marshall I..."

Raleigh understands. This is about Chuck and how everyone feels about Chuck despite not knowing him. They think they do because they sit at the same table sometimes or read his fight reports but they don't. Not even the crew that travelled with him and Herc from Sydney know Chuck the way they do.

Chuck had serious burns after the final mission. Hell, he had barely survived it at all. His heart had stopped twice after his pod surfaced from the water and still people ask questions and insinuate Chuck is an asshole. Maybe. But he is an asshole that saved their goddam lives and Raleigh wishes they would just leave them be.

3.

"Hey Raleigh. I was kind of surprised to hear about your er relationship. I know you really struggled to let people in after Yancy. I thought you would struggle to even drift and now all this..." Tendo offers a bagel before doing his version of what Chuck has dubbed the 'what the fuck' talk. It irks him. They had closed the breach, saved the world, and Mako is now grieving the loss of yet another parent. When will people let it go? Taking a chunk gives Raleigh a minute to think over his reply. Tendo isn't being a dick about it at least.

Plus, it had been a surprise to Raleigh as well that he had found it so easy to let Mako in and then how well he had connected with Chuck on top of that. They would never be drift compatible because they couldn't let the other take the lead in anything. Mako was what held them together, stabilised them, and gave them balance.

"I don't know, it just works. I'm happy. It gave me something to fight for, to win the damn war for that wasn't just about revenge. Isn't that enough?"

Tendo quirks an eyebrow and nods slowly, "Works for me."

Tendo wanders off with his coffee and Raleigh stands in the mess hall trembling. It takes him a while to cool off before he heads down to medical to see how Chuck is. He doesn't want him get irate in his hospital bed of all places. He would probably end up pulling his stitches out.

4.

"You're very lucky." The doctor says with a smile as Mako and Raleigh are finally kicked out of his room. It immediately puts Chuck on the defensive. For four weeks he has lain in his hospital bed and for four weeks Raleigh and Mako have visited him every single day, nearly all day, often having to be kicked out at night. Raleigh and Mako hold hands but Chuck's are badly burned and contact hurts so he often keeps his sitting on cool washcloths instead.

"Yeah, and?!" The accent makes it sound harsher than he intended but he still fully intended there to be a bite in there somewhere. The doctor is only voicing Chuck's own thoughts after all. His skin itches where the burns are healing and he is very aware of his situation.

"They are lovely together. Yet they still come to spend so much time with you. It is lovely of them."

It takes a minute for Chuck to process it all and then he doesn't know whether to laugh or scream. She must be the only person in the whole fucking Shatterdome that doesn't know.

"Yeah they come to see me cause we're all fucking, sweetheart. Keep up with the gossip yeah?"

The same doctor is on duty when Mako and Raleigh arrive near lunch time the following day. Mako has a tablet in her hands and Raleigh looks frazzled so Chuck knows without asking that they have been pulled from one meeting to another all morning. His drip is being changed as they enter the room and the doctor turns scarlet as they approach the bed. Before, Chuck had been very cautious about initiating physical contact again, still very unsure of himself. Today he reaches up and pulls them both down towards him, Raleigh nearly taking out the water jug on his side unit on the way down. Mako tuts lightly in his ear but holds on tightly. Raleigh spends the rest of the day with a happy smile and the imprint of the corner of the unit on his face. Chuck makes them sit on either side of his bed and holds a hand each. It itches and burns and is worth every second.

1.

"Mako, those boys are volatile and dangerous. I reckon you're the only girl that could handle either of them. I'm glad you are happy. I'm glad he has the pair of you and that...that he still has you. After. I'd tell Chuck but...well he is Chuck." Herc states slowly, carefully, after dragging her into his office. He has rarely seen his son show affection to anyone but his dog and it still baffles him that he had let Mako and Raleigh in so completely and so quickly.

Mako smiles, unsure of what she is supposed to say, no longer feeling comfortable in Herc's presence now. She is sleeping with his son after all. Herc doesn't say another thing about it though, just pulls out a tablet with a schedule on it of press interviews. They can't avoid the world forever and Mako isn't sure that she wants to. Raleigh is sick of the same question over and over again and Chuck is climbing the walls being poked and prodded by doctors all the time. The press will have new questions and they can give different answers. It sounds like it could all blow up in their faces. It sounds wonderful.


End file.
